Monta Ellis Out 3 Months
I'm the biggest slacker that ever tried to be a blogger so sue me for being a couple of weeks late with this issue.
My devastation was indescribable after hearing about Monta Ellis' left ankle injury that will result to him being out of the game for 3-4 months. Three weeks after the news came out and it still knocks the wind out of me just a little bit. With Baron Davis leaving, Monta was the face of our franchise, the last hope the Warriors had to make it to the playoffs. While it sounds morbid and faithless, I can't help but believe it to be true. He's going to miss at least a third of the entire season and for someone who was appointed starting PG, training camp alone was going to be crucial to his success in that spot.
That's not even the worst of it though. On September 6, the Contra Costa Times was the first to announce that Monta Ellis actually lied about the reason behind his injury. Instead of hurting himself by working out or even playing a pick-up game of basketball, he finally admitted after weeks of rumors that it was definitely not a basketball-related injury. Exactly what it was is still unknown and being kept secret for as long as the Warriors front office and his agent can allow it. People at GSOM have their own opinions though, from a motorcycle accident to something ridiculous like chasing after a girl (whaaatevs, Monta would never have to try hard to get a girl, even if he can be goofy-looking at times).
Now the question is...what to do about it? Tim Kawakami, columist and blogger for the San Jose Mercury Times, has a couple of educated guesses and has enlightened me with a number of possibilities. Considering the fact that he just recieved an extension and one of the biggest pay raises in NBA history, the front office has to discipline him in some way to let him know that this is not okay. When Vladimir Radmanovic had a snowboarding injury last year, the Lakers fined him $500,000, which is chump change to Monta's $66million. Granted, I have no expertise in giving fining suggestions so I'll end it with the fact that I definitely support any disciplinary actions taken towards teaching Monta Ellis a lesson (except voiding his contract altogether). Just like there are rules and guidelines to follow in any profession, he needs to understand that there are just certain things he's restricted from since he's a multi-million dollar professional NBA player. If he wants to go risking his body then he needs to do that with someone else's money on the line. Think about it: he's making $11mil just this season, which is about $1.83mil each month of the regular season. If it takes him the full 4 months to recover, that's a little over two months of being out, while still getting paid $3.66mil. That's a lot of money to sit and watch your teammates get owned by the Hornets, Pistons, Blazers, Celtics, Cavs, Rockets, Spurs, Magic, and Lakers.
(Not that I don't have faith in the rest of the Warriors. For all I know, there might actually be the best case of chemistry with all the new people coming in and they can DOMINATE as the Underdogs. I still have faith. But this is me being realistic.)
Le sigh. I'm still excited about the season though and I've got tickets lined up to 3 games, and working on getting tickets for Opening Night against New Orleans. WARRIOR FAN TIL THE DEATH, BABY.
6 years ago
